The health agency says it has trained 60 paramedics to administer naloxone.

Until recently, the antidote was only available in Montreal to some paramedics and hospitals.

The drug helps delay the effects of a drug overdose, providing the extra time necessary to get a patient to a hospital.

Naloxone can be injected just like an EpiPen, but in Quebec only certain health professionals are allowed administer it.

Training for family members, health workers

Now municipal and provincial health authorities are working with a Montreal drug-users’ support group to get naloxone into the hands of more people who may need it, such as family members of drug users and people who work with those struggling with drug addictions.

“The objective is to target as many people as we can [who] are opiate users and street drug users so that when someone does overdose, they can recognize the signs and administer naloxone and call 911,” said Guy-Pierre Levesque, the executive director of the non-profit organization Méta d'Âme.

Levesque said earlier this year, one of Méta d'Âme’s members died of an overdose.

“If people would have been trained with naloxone, probably this person would still be alive today if they had naloxone on their hands.”

Levesque said if Quebec’s health ministry approves the project, Méta d'Âme could start training some of its members to use the overdose antidote by the fall.